North American Life Insurance Activity Off 5% in July : MIB

(Westwood, Mass. – August 28, 2006) North American application activity for individually underwritten life insurance was off -5.0% in July year-over-year, the fifth consecutive month of 2006 declines, according to the MIB Life Indexsm. Year-to-date (YTD), U.S. and Canadian application activity was off -3.1% compared to the same seven month period in 2005.

U.S. application activity was off -5.3% in July year-over-year, all ages combined. Declines were consistent across all three age groups: -6.3%, -4.5% and -1.9% for ages 0-44, 45-59 and age 60+, respectively compared to same period 2005. The YTD decline in U.S. applications has increased from the six-month level of -3.0%, to -3.3% in July versus same period 2005. The -4.8% drop in activity from June to July 2006 is consistent with prior years� declines for the same period of -5.2% (2005) and -4.2% (2004).

Canadian application activity was off -2.3% in July year-over-year, all ages combined. Declines of -2.3% and -2.8% were seen across the 0-44 and 45-59, respectively while the 60+ age group was flat at +0.1% when compared to July 2005. YTD, Canadian applications remained at the prior month�s level, down -1.8% in July versus same period 2005. The -10.8% decrease seen in Canadian activity between June and July is characteristic of a recent trend where 2004�s June-July drop was -11.9% and 2005�s was -11.8%.

Monthly Percent Change vs 2005

US

Canada

Total

July 2006

-5.3%

-2.3%

-5.0%

June 2006

-5.7%

-3.4%

-5.4%

YTD 2006

-3.3%

-1.8%

-3.1%

Monthly Percent Change vs Previous Month

US

Canada

Total

July 2006

-4.8%

-10.8%

-5.6%

About the MIB Life Index

The MIB Life Index is the life insurance industry’s timeliest measure of application activity across the U.S. Released to the media each month, the Index is based on the number of searches life member company underwriters perform on the MIB Checking Service database. Since the vast majority of individually underwritten life premium dollars in North America include an MIB search as a routine underwriting requirement, the MIB Life Index provides a reasonable means to estimate new business activity.

About MIB

MIB is the life and health insurance industry’s most trusted resource for risk information and analytical services. Owned by the industry it has served for more than a century, MIB is uniquely positioned to aggregate industry insights in order to develop products and services for our members that improve their risk management decisions. MIB, Inc. and MIB Solutions, Inc. are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the MIB Group, Inc. Visit www.mib.com.